INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA has announced the six finalists for its 2004 Walter Byers Scholarship Award. The Walter Byers Scholarship is one of the most prestigious honors the NCAA bestows on student-athletes in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements and future success in their postgraduate studies and planned careers.

The NCAA selects one male and one female student-athlete as its Walter Byers Scholars each year. The Byers Scholars each receive a $21,500 scholarship to be used for graduate school and have an option for renewing the scholarship in their second year of school if they are in good academic standing and a full-time student during that second year of study. The NCAA will select the two Walter Byers Scholars April 26.

The six finalists are:

Corrin Drakulich
University of Georgia
track & field
Major: Genetics, Religion.
Hometown: Portland, Oregon

Caesar Garcia
Auburn University
swimming & diving
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Hometown: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Craig Krenzel
Ohio State University
football
Major: Molecular Genetics
Hometown: Sterling Heights, Michigan

Rebekah Potts
Furman University
cross country/track
Major: Chemistry
Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama

Melissa Stults
University of New England
women's basketball
Major: Marine Biology
Hometown: Goshen, Indiana

Joaquin Zalacain
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
tennis
Major: General Sciences, Minor: Biology
Hometown: Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico

The Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program was established in 1988 to recognize the contributions of the former NCAA executive director, Walter Byers, and was developed to encourage excellence in academic performance by student-athletes. A Byers Scholar is recognized as an individual who has combined the best elements of mind and body to achieve national distinction for his or her achievements, and who promises to be a future leader in his or her chosen field.

Award recipients are required to have at least a 3.500 grade-point average (4.000 scale), show evidence of superior character and leadership, and demonstrate that participation in athletics has been a positive influence on personal and intellectual development, among other notable qualifications.

Last year, Natalie Halbach, a gymnast at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and McLain "Mac" Schneider, a football student-athlete at the University of North Dakota, were named the 2003 Walter Byers Scholars.

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